Two Point Hospital Review

Must Buy

A hilarious management game that ticks all the boxes for fun!

Management games. They come in all shapes and sizes from anything to running a full blown prison, to working around a graveyard peddling in the dead body business (it's a grim one!). Admittedly, I'm a complete sucker for the idea of puppeteering a vast setting in my own alternate universe. There's something so very pleasing about being able to micro-manage everything as well. However, they are not all created equal.

Two Point Hospital is lovingly crafted by Two Point Studios--an array of experience stemming from cult classics Theme Hospital and Theme Park. They're not working just for a paycheck here either, as I go through this review I want to stress just how much heart was put into this game overall and how much it really does show. The feeling that the developers truly loved the 'Theme' games (had they been personally working on it or not) shines through effortlessly and pens it down as a must have title.

Let's talk difficulty first. The main downfall of most management games is just how complicated things can get. Sure, it's great to be able to touch everything and direct it where you want to go, but sometimes this feature gets so out of hand it tends to overwhelm the casual gamer. Two Point Hospital has PLENTY to go through--you can hire and fire, train your staff, allocate them to certain parts of the hospital (which is handy--you don't want an unexperienced nurse jabbing you with a blindfold on!) and loads more. All these features never feel like they're bogging you down, and only serve to enhance. Spending time overlooking your hospital doesn't always have to be a hectic one either, and for a game of this genre to be fun this is very much appreciated. Referencing the games of the past that Two Point Studios set to capture the spirit of, everything in the way of nostalgia of these wonderful titles we used to sink hours in.

Diving in, you're put into a campaign type mode where you go from hospital to hospital with different scenarios and challenges to work on. As you move from one to the next, you start to notice that you're in a living tutorial that never really feels too heavy or confusing. All the introductions of game mechanics gently trickle in, giving you plenty of time to learn as goals urge you to implement them as you go along. This is something that I'm absolutely raving about--the rate at which you learn how to run new equipment and gather unlockables is at a fantastically thorough pace. Have you unlocked something later down the line but wish to use it in a previous hospital? No problem! Just go back to whichever hospital at any time and you can drop whatever you've earned back into it. All the unlockables and research span across the whole account, which is brilliant and makes going back into your first hospitals so much fun.

Did you go bankrupt? Oh, well it happens to the best of us, doesn't it? If you go in too deep and have expended all your loans (which are pretty generous), then you can simply start the level over whenever you wish. Clean slate, and hopefully a better outlook!

What an absolute treat to take it all in! The cartoony nature of the bumbling population never stops short of putting a smile on my face. They mill around, with AI that generally works with you, rather than against, animated with hilarious detailed mannerisms that you could stand alone watch for hours. The imaginary diseases are also a hoot--most follow footing in lighthearted puns making any deadly epidemic a fun one.

Then you have the radio station, Two Point Radio along with it's colourful cast of DJs. It's not a very long loop in the scheme of things, but the commentary coupled with the hip, jazzy music is able to fill countless hours of background noise without it feeling repetitive. Most likely you'll come away humming a tune or two! Keeping in the spirit of sound--I don't even mind the tannoy nagging me with it's cheeky commentary.

There are bugs here and there, but on the whole this game is a polished prized piece of work. I can't recommend it enough--especially if you've been looking for that management game that captures the feeling of retro fun. I can honestly say it's the first game in a very long time that I've lost track of time playing and I have a hunch that it might be that way for you too.